Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-08-04
groa County grqister
M. G. r u. NOTES.
KANSAS WITHOUT SALOONS.
Gov. Martin Cites Facts and Figures to
Correct False Impression.


Correct q False Impression.
The UnexampIed Prosperity which has Mari
ed the Era of Prohibition in the SUM-
flower State-A Remarkable
Showing.
CHICAGO, ILL, July 13-The follow
ing was received here to-day:
STATE OF KANSAS, EXECUTIVE De
PARTMENT, TOPEKA, July IL, 1887
William Henry Smith, General Man
ager Associated Press: My DEAR ST.
On the I'd Of July inst. special dis
patch was sent from st. Joseph. Mo.
to Chicago paper, in which 1t wa
stated that 1.-THE closing of the saloons
in Atchieon, Kan, has cut Off the mos
profitable source of revenue, amount
ing TO thousands of dollars year, ant
as a result, the city has not revenue t.
keep going; that the police force, with
the exception of the Marshal and one
policeman, had been suspended; thai
the services of the firemen were to be
dispensed with, and that the gas and
electric lights were to be shut off,"
This dispatch was utilized by the AS
ISOLATED Press, and thus published in
all parts of the country. AS result,
have received many letters from diff.r-
ent sections. making inquiry as to the
truth of the statements it embodied,
and have seen its alleged facts com.
mented on i'm dozens of newspapers, as
evidence that the abolition OF saloons
has reduced prosperous city in Kan
sas to the verge of bankruptcy. Sim
liar letters have been received by the
Mayor of Atchison, and by many other
cities of Kansas.
The dispatch referred to was prompt
ed by two motives. It was first sent
from town in Missouri for the purpose
of injuring rival city in Kansas; and,
second, il was inspired by the whisk Y
interest, and intended to create the i'm.
preston that an efficient city govern
ment could not be maintained without
the revenue derived from saloon licens-
es. The City of Atchison has been for
years one of the most important rail-
road and commercial centers of Kansas.
1t has a population of % 900 people. Ii
the whisky interest could create the
impression that AtchisOn had been
materially injured because the saloons
had been driven out of it, q serious
blow would be dealt the temperance
cause. The Associated Press, i'm giving
this false special such wide publicity,
was made the unconscious agent of a
malicious slanderer, whose purposes
were as unworthy as his statements
were unfounded. / deem it my duty
TO correct the false impressions thus
created, and respectfully ask that this
letter be given as wide a publication as
the dispatch which prompted it.
am thoroughly familiar with the
condition of the City of Atchison, and
personally know thst the statements
embodied in the st. Joseph dispatch
are false and misleading. The gas,
electric lights and water-supply of the
city have never been turned off. Its
Fire Department has been, and is, con-
tinuousiy on duty. Its police force has
been largely reduced, but has, in the
absence of the saloons, been ample to
preserve the peace and protect the
property of the citizens.
Atchison abolished the last of its sa-
looms in the fall of 1886. The whisky
interests prophesied that this action
would seriously injure the business OF
the city. 1t has had no such effect.
AtchisOn is more prosperous to-day
than il has been for many years past.
Its wholesale trade aggregated over
$40 600, 600 in 1856. and during the first
six months of 1887 this trade has in
creased fully 33 per cent. over that for
the corresponding six months of 1856.
All the principal streets of the city are
now being paved. More substantial
improvements are being made, and
more buildings are being erected ..in
Atchison this rear than during any
previous year in its history. Ten i'm
portant lines of Railway center in the
city, and the Southern Kansas Railway
as,just extend ed its line to Atchison.
Tie central shops of the MissouriPaclfic
road have recently been located there;
the largest lumber yard in the West
has recently been established there !;
and many other important commercial
and manufacturing industries have
been located there during the past six
mouths. Better than all, too, hundreds
of thousands of dollars that were FORM
erly wasted in the saloons are now ex-
pended I'm feeding and clothing and
housing the people, and as result
thousands of wives and children in
AtchisOn, who were living in poverty
q few years ago, are now prosperous,
happy and contented.
This st. Joseph dispatch is only fair
specimen of hundreds of false and ma
licious statements have seen publish
ed in the newspapers of the country
during the past three or four years
concerning Kansas and Kansas towns.
Tie whisky interests predicted that
the abolition of saloons in Kansas inju-
ri0usly affect the material prosperity
of the State, and falsahoods intended
to confirm this view are coustan tly in
vented and circulated I'm every section
of the country, and especially in States
where movements are being made to
Danish the saloons. / am receiving
letters daily from different States, MAX
ing inquiries concerning the effects
and results Of our temperance laws on
the financial, commercial and other
material interests of our State, and
these letterse all indicate that the work
of maligning Kansas is going on in ev-
cry section of the country. Permit me,
therefore. to give you the real facts
Summing up, the facts of the census
confute and confound those who assert
that the material prosperity of any
is promoted by the pres
ence of saloons. So far as Kansas and
all her cities and towns are concerned,
the reverse of this assertion is tras.
The most wonderful era of prosperity.
of material, moral and intellectual
of growth in country,
cities and towns, ever witnessed on the
continent, has been Illus
trated i'm Kansas during the six years
since the temperance amendment to
our Constitution was adopted and es-
pecially during the past two years, the
neriod of its most energetic and COM